


new and old

by xkailajayx



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:15:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28321485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xkailajayx/pseuds/xkailajayx
Summary: the guard build their own christmas traditions, and show booker what they madehappy secret santa delmira!!!
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolo di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, i - Relationship
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	new and old

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gay_and_panicked](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gay_and_panicked/gifts).



None of them had ever really been in for all the Christian traditions that had grown out of the last hundred or so years. From time to time they’d had celebrations, meals, around the Winter Solstice, but it hadn’t been what Nile ended up turning it into.

The decorations and presents, the traditions she carried from her old life and the ones she couldn’t even talk about, the new traditions she started from things she’d heard, it was a way of grounding herself in this new gwhirlwind of a life. The others, especially Joe and Nicky, were happy enough to encourage her, and so, Christmas became an important tradition for them all.

A mix of old and new, they all got books on Christmas Eve as well as comfortable pajamas that everyone, of course, had to change into. Settling down with them all in a warm, well decorated cabin as they read in relative silence might not have been like some people’s raucous celebrations, but it was theirs.

A small stack of books sat unread, waiting for their recipient to come home.

Christmas Morning wasn’t, usually, that exciting by the time you’re twenty six, Nile mused the first time. The previous one, with her mom and her brother, had been pleasant. But she hadn’t woken feeling like she was going to vibrate out of her own skin with excitement, wondering what was about to happen, in at least a decade. Maybe longer.

She’d tried so hard with their presents. She didn’t have the wealth of time they’d had, either together or out in the world, but she was earnest and, by a good margin, knew more about technology than the others. At least she had access to the whole of the internet, and next day delivery. Even if her gifts had been bad- which they were not, judging by everyone’s reactions- she knew her new family wouldn’t hold it against her.

They’d all put something to one side, un-labelled and ungiven, kept waiting for so long.

Nicky and Joe together made something that was almost a normal Christmas Dinner. Nile had quickly learned in her time with them that Nicky and Joe didn’t care much for ‘expectations’, and that carried over into their cooking. She wasn’t about to complain, though. Eating exactly the same things for the next thousand years wasn’t a particularly appealing thought.

They always cooked too much. There were so many moments where there was a lull, a quiet moment, and they felt the missing piece like a lost limb. Sending him away hadn’t been easy, for any of them, a fight between forgiveness and the need to breathe just for a moment, but moments like these had always been for family and they were lacking someone.

When Booker had finally redeemed himself, finally found his way back into the fold, it was easy for him to settle back in. Easy enough that they had forgotten, when Christmas came around, that he hadn’t been with them through one since Nile arrived. In the run up, they warned him it wasn’t, quite, what they used to do for the Solstice, but it was still good. He had no idea what to expect.

The first thing he noticed, of course, was Nicky and Joe carrying in a giant tree- the second was the glee in which Nile brought out three large boxes and started directing people. Booker wasn’t excused, just because he hadn’t been around for the other ones- Nile was just as specific with him as she was with the others. Decorating the safe house took most of the day, with each of them taking control of the music as playlists ended. When Nile handed Booker the phone with a bright grin, he saw their attempts at songs for him, and he had to take himself a moment.

He had to take a lot more than a moment when he saw the package with pajamas and the stack of books up to his waist. Nicky shepherded the others out of the room, ostensibly to get changed, as Joe draped himself across the Frenchman’s back.

“Did you think we’d forgotten about you, Basti?” He murmured against his ear, wrapping his arms tight around him. “We could never.”

When Andy, Quynh and Nile returned, Booker was settled- a little damp around the eyes-  
between Nicky and Joe, already quietly reading. They spent the rest of the evening like that, quiet and calm and together, all of them. No one was surprised when it came to bed down for the night and Nicky and Joe pulled Booker along with them.

The night was warm, and soft, and quiet. Nile had been given the comfort she needed, when she needed it, when the new stories she was telling got too close to the old ones. Now, it was Booker who needed to be held, safe and loved, finally forgiven.

The next morning dawned bright and early and, while he had been warned about it, nothing to have prepared him for the thundering of feet as Nile threw Nicky and Joe’s bedroom door open with a bright grin. “C’mon, it’s eight, time for presents.”

They all gave each other gifts often, as they found them more often than for any particular reason. But there was something deeply satisfying about seeing a small mound of presents with his name on. Bigger than the others, which made him frown. “Did I not get enough for you all?” he asked, as Nile settled on the floor to start passing gifts out.

“No, you got everyone something. You’ve just got a couple of years to catch up on.” She said with a grin.

Christmas dinner was a raucous event, nothing like the often solemn dinners Nile had been used to since losing her father, and Booker had never felt more at home than when he was inthe middle of it all. Serving dishes passed around, music that was the loosest definition of ‘Christmas’ imaginable playing in the background, cracker and paper hats and- family.

This was their family.


End file.
